Alan Grayson Strikes Back
The liberal firebrand ex-congressman from Disney World, defeated in 2010 after one term, is running for a new House seat representing Orlando.
You know what Washington’s like. Why do you want to go back? I’d be down on the floor every day calling them out for the crazy stuff they do that nobody ever finds out about because they’re not witnesses to it.
What do you make of the so-called supercommittee’s failure to do its job? I’m not sure that they should do their job. I don’t like their job. Their job is to cut Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid. I’m sorry, it’s just a farce. The real two-party system in America is the Meanies and the Weenies. The Meanies want to take away your benefits, and the Weenies want to compromise with them.
Why isn’t the leadership of your party focusing on these problems? You’d have to ask them. I’d love to see them solve some problems. Show me a problem that they’ve solved. But I’m really not interested in demoralizing my own supporters.
Are you heartened that President Obama has started to articulate that message? I don’t know what to say to that. You’ve left me speechless.
Norma Molin / Courtesy of Orlando Magazine
Would Mitt Romney be worse than Barack Obama? He’d be less bad than some of the other candidates who are running for the Republican nomination.
Any thoughts on the other Republican candidates? I never in my wildest dreams imagined that Ron Paul would have a viable candidacy. Newt Gingrich is like Rudy Giuliani—the more you know him, the less you like him. I’d be concerned that if Gingrich was president, he’d find a way to cheat on the country.
What are the odds that Obama will be reelected? I think he’ll probably be reelected.
How much money will be spent against you? Last time the Koch brothers spent around $2 million, the health-insurance companies spent around $2 million, and the Republican Party spent around $1 million.
You obviously have high name recognition. There are many people who live here and know me and wish they didn’t. And the only person who’s better known than me is the president and Mickey Mouse. But I don’t think Mickey’s going to run.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for The Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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